The 2022 Decision of the Italian Corte di Cassazione on the Brazilian “Great Naturalization” and the Condition of Italian Citizens Resident in Brazil in the late 19th Century

Abstract

Abstract The so-called Brazilian “Great Naturalization,” stemming from Decree No. 58-A of 1889 and the 1891 Constitution of Brazil provided for the mass naturalization of foreigners residing in Brazil at that time. This measure was heavily criticized by European States, including the then Kingdom of Italy, due to the risk of interference with the citizenship bond of such foreigners with their countries of origin. That measure would indeed, plenty of times, result in the loss or renunciation of original citizenship in case of acquisition of a new citizenship. Against that backdrop, Italy’s Avvocatura Generale dello Stato (Italy’s Office of the State Attorneys) has recently challenged before Italian courts requests for the recognition of Italian citizenship jure sanguinis filed by descendants of Italian emigrants who were in Brazil at the time of the “Great Naturalization”. The issue reached the Corte di Cassazione, which, in Judgment No. 25317/2022, found in favour of the descendants and held that they had not lost Italian citizenship on the grounds of a tacit waiver. This commentary seeks to assess whether the said judgment is in line with the international and Italian legal frameworks governing citizenship rights. To be sure, the conclusion of the Court of Cassation has averted a dangerous precedent, according to which loss of citizenship may occur without an express act of will from its holder.